KSE-100 index sheds 389 points in volatile trading

KARACHI: The benchmark KSE-100 Index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Tuesday fell by 389 points in volatile session due to political unrest.

The index closed at 42,878 points as against previous day’s closing of 43,267 points showing a decrease of 389 points.

Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that volatile session was observed today due to political unrest and overheated commodities cycle.

Market opened in the red zone and stayed under pressure throughout the day. Cement sector stayed in the red zone due to mounting international coal prices. In the last trading hour, across the board selling was witnessed.

Sectors contributing to the performance include Banks (-85.8 points), Cement (-67.7 points), E&P (-62.1 points), Power (-37.3 points) and OMC (-34.0 points).

Volumes decreased from 236.9 million shares to 226.1 million shares (-4.5 per cent DoD). Traded value also decreased by 13.3 per cent to reach $ 39.9 million as against $ 46.0 million.

Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include TPL, UNITY, GGL, TRG and TPLP.

Analysts at Topline Securities said after a sideways, opening market juggled between range bound territory, however in the second half market witnessed selling pressure as Opposition submits no-confidence motion against PM Imran Khan in national assembly where market make an intraday low of 478 points.

On the results front, NBP announced its 4Q2021 EPS at Rs1.9 ( down 7 per cent YoY and 46 per cent QoQ) along with DPS of Re 1.